Beer: Ratings & Reviews

Reviews by ttu94:

Cream ale, High gravity. Very fancey terms for what I think is an American IPA with a high ABV. Pours a dark clear gold with a nice white head. Leaves plenty of lacing. Smell is very hoppy with some malt. The taste is that of an AIPA. The most noticable thing to me is the high ABV it is present in the taste and mouthfeel of the beer. This beer feels heavy to me (maybe its the talk of gravity on the label :) ) Anyway not too many of these puppys or youll feel the weight of the world.

More User Reviews:

Pours a light golden with a slight orange hue to it with a nice creamy-like two finger head that takes its time coming down leaving a frothy top.The hoppiest aroma of any cream ale I have had thats for sure, Pacific NW hop profile of pine and citrus although not overly strong prevail.Flavors are quite dry some light toastiness and citrus with just a slightly noticable alcohol burn in the finish but slight.This is a damn good cream ale here and very easy to drink at 7.6 thats for sure,I would buy again for sure.

Appearance  Of course, the head was just monstrous. The heavenly, delicate pillows settled into an inch high topping to the liquid after lacing the heck out of my Ruination glass. The body was a bright and hazy orange.

Smell  Lagunitas packed this one with some sirious hops. The piney and floral notes have a nice malt base to back them up.

Taste  This reminds me of Rogue Honey Cream Ale without the honey. The hops are complex, solid, sharp, and of course creamy. The malt base cannot be ignored, offering a nice compliment to this rather complex ale.

A: Poured from a 12fl.oz. bottle. Dark straw color, moving toward amber. Hazy, but clear toward the bottom of the glass. Fine pillars of carbonation visible. Some sediment and even a sprig of what looked like pine in the head. Head was a half a finger, light, fluffy and slightly creamy yellow. A smaller cap stayed throughout the drink and it left some nice spotty lacing - even got finer as the drink progressed.

S: The bottle talks about the brew being made to look forward to summer. I can dig that. It has a light optimistic smell. Gentle but apparent grassy, slightly fruity hops reminiscent of apricot and peach. There is some creamy sweetness. Some caramel malt. Some molasses. Maybe some pine which would make sense if that's what the sprig was! Plenty going on but generally quite understated.

T: Initially a very clean rice type crispness. It had a sweet malt backbone but it was all very subtle. Finish has a pleasant kick of hops which leads into a bitter hoppy and creamy sour aftertaste.

M: Quite smooth and buttery. Medium bodied. Head gave a creaminess on the lips. Bit of bite on the pallet on finish. I expected more carbonation - felt quite low.

D: Quite refreshing and very drinkable. I am not a master of the style, so I can't comment on that. I can say that I expected to experience more creaminess and maltiness and not so much of the hoppiness although the overall takeaway is an enjoyable ale that I would be happy to drink again - maybe right at the beginning of summer.

Stubby 12oz bottle pours into my glass a hazy dark orange hue with a nice creamy half inch head on top that leaves some spotty lacing on the way down. Aromas of citrusy, somewhat floral hops hit me right off the bat. A nice sweet, lightly toasty maltiness in the background with hints of vanilla and a bit of fruitiness.

First sip brings a smooth lightly toasted, creamy maltiness with plenty of perfumy, floral hops in there as well. Citrus notes weave in and out. A touch of vanilla with a light grainy aspect. Goes down with a touch of bitterness on the finish as well as a little alcohol presence. Overall, a tasty and unique cream ale.

Mouthfeel is smooth and medium bodied with just a slight alcohol on the finish. Good, steady carbonation throughout. Overall, a tasty cream ale that packs a punch and that's amped up by plenty of hops. I'd have this one again when I'm in the mood for a cream ale! I'm happy that Lagunitas is now in full swing in Illinois.

Smell: Juicy tangerine citrus and lightly herbal hop aromas as well as a rich dose of biscuity and pale malt, very nice!

Taste: The hops touch my tastebuds first with mildly oily and bitter citrus flavors, the malt does provide some brief balance with phantom biscuit and honey , not as much malt as the nose ,and perhaps the name, had suggested to me, then the citrus flavors of tangeringe and orange zest move in once more and blend with dry sourdough grain for a lasting and pleasant finish.

Mouthfeel: fairly creamy and smooth.

Drinkability: A tasty brew for sure, nice medium level of complexity and strenghth, and a bit of a west coast touch in the hops department for a cream ale. While i was expecting more malt, i was pleasantly surprised by the citrusy flavors and longer finish.

Pours hazy amber with a big head. Aroma is caramel, brown sugar, and hops. Lots of malt in the taste, accompanied by the sugary sweetness. Alcohol and hops in the back that linger. Overall, it tastes like a thinner version of their Hairy Eyeball. Good, not great.

12oz bottle no date. Pours a clear copper with a fluffy off-white head.

It smells of dry malt with flares of hops. The flavor offers semi-sweet malt with a herby hop character and a slight twinge of citrus. There is also a creamy nuttiness and a bit of a metallic nip beneath it all.

It's medium-bodied, more dry than creamy. It's drinkable and display some decent complexity. I will have no problem consuming the sixer I bought over the next week, yet it didn't exactly rock my socks off.

An imperial cream ale? Could there be such a thing? This would be quite a nice, mellow beer if it weren't for the alcohol. Other reviewers didn't seem to mind it much, but it really stuck out to me. Perhaps I am overly sensitive to these things. A light, crystal clear orange gold with lots of puffy head and lacing. Endearing aroma of malts with a light sprinkle of hoppiness. Also some perfectly marvelous musty yeast characteristics, but they are laid asunder by invisible alcohol meanies. A lightly malty beer, with understated caramel sweetness and tasty bread crust. Hops are very quiet in the background but do their job adequately. Mouthfeel is smooth and creamy, quite nice. The finish is where the alcohol comes into play, and to me it's unmistakeable. It provides a somewhat shattering spiciness, followed instantly by numbness which would be cool if this weren't such a delicate beer. It undermines the great mouthfeel by lulling your palate to sleep. Not a failure by any means, but it seems to me to just veer off in the wrong direction. If Lagunitas is sirius (ho!) about making a big beer, they need to amplify the bright fruit flavors here, perhaps making it more evocative of oranges or honey, or grapefruity hops.

Clear bright orange appearance, sub amber. Frothy 1/4 inch head, slightly yellow. Laces in delicate and distinct dots. Bare honey aroma, a little yeasty, but noticeable pine hoppiness. Lower carbonation helps the lighter mouthfeel to seem fuller than it is. Starts sweet but with little malt distinction, a dry bitterness sets in and the finish has a decided bite to it, a little sharp and lingering without addiing much interest. A touch of alcoholic heat. A hard-to-rate beer, some complexity and a distinct close to the profile, but neither is stellar.

I have been into most of the Lagunitas beers I've sampled however this Imperial Cream ale isn't doing it for me...I don't the think the dog star is shining bright on this one. Appears a honey golden hue with a thin off white cream head leaves scattered lacing all around my pint. Aroma contains upfront maltiness with a hoppy sweet syrupy notes really nothing notable here. Taste is harsh grainy offness does no justice to this cream ale hop bitterness doesn't mesh well although there are at least some promising hop flavor in of all things a cream ale...some pleasant floral citrus hop tones. Mouthfeel is thin bodied high in carbonation just rough with each sip. Drinkability for me I'm not revisiting this brew just was a bad drinking experience flavors weren't meshing at all.

A- This beer has a crystal clear light amber body with a thick creamy off-white head that pushes above the glass and last and last. There is a good carbonation of tiny bubbles that glide up through the beer.

S- The big mellow smell of green hops has a perfumed sweetness to them with a nice spicy hop note in the finish.

T- The flavor of big green hops has a spice to it and a slight creamy taste to a soft slightly sweet pale malt flavor. There is a light but not sweet watermelon note to the hops and after the finish the bitterness grows and grows.

M- This beer has a medium-full mouthfeel with a creamy texture and a faint fizz in the finish.

D- This beer has a nice bold but mellow green hops flavor. The sweetness is not distinctly malt flavors but does support the hops very nicely. There are some yeast qualities that remind me of Belgian Tripels that I was surprised it was a cream ale.

Sirius is a hazy orange color with a pitiful display of head. Just a small film of off white bubbles that eventually form a thin collar.

Smell is caramel apples spiked with vodka. A boozy scent that doesn't linger but every now and then attacks your nasal cavities. Clean simple scents that lean more towards the malt side then anything fruity or bitter. It's really kind of nice.

Taste is equally as simple. Corn and malts that move towards the caramel side of things mixed with some light orange/watermelon liquor. Clean, simple, just what a cream ale should be.

No sign of a hop profile therefore not much in the way of bitterness, you do however get a little bite from some firm carbonation. The beer still stays in a creamy, slick range which feels nice and makes it's easy to drink. Not a bad brew but a little high ABV for the style. I am all for some big beers but in this case I think it distracts from the tastiness.

This brew pours into the glass a slightly hazed golden-orange color with a soft yellowish-tan head at about 2 fingers. The head is slow to fade, leaving behind some respectable lacing.The nose is interesting. It's almost a pale ale base, with bright, leafy and citrus hops presence underneath a sweet note of candied sugars and bright undertones of light fruits. Malts are below the other aromas but certainly present, and a light whiff of alcohol comes and goes.This is a pretty unique one to me, and the more I drink it the more I think this is what I was thinking a cream ale should be. The concept seems like it would make for a delicious beer, but I've never been blown away by one before. This is the closest I've come thus far in that respect. There's a nice underlying complexity to this beer, well blended and making for a nice concert of flavor. A candied sugar sweetness that isn't overbearing works with a soft malts presence and a variety of fruits to balance a nice raw, leafy, citrus tart hops flavor. Let this one sit on the tongue for awhile. I didn't get a full appreciation until I did.This is certainly a smooth beer with a very nice creaminess to it, but I feel it would benefit from slightly more carbonation. Body is medium.The ABV just creeps to the higher end, but this beer is quite drinkable and easy to appreciate.

In college, when I first tried a cream ale - the glorious Genny Cream, I expected a thick almost stout like liquid. You know - like cream. Genny Cream Ale couldn't be further from that. Well this is somewhat between that idea and Genny Cream.

The head is intense: upside down cumulo-nimbus clouds and the beer itself, copper in color. You get a soft citrus hop smell followed by cereal grain. Crisp and light despite the 7.6% which came as a bit of a surprise to me as I check the label.

This beer poured to a crisp and almost fruity looking color with a pretty big head. It shrank but never went away. It looks great in a glass. The smell and taste is creamy but with a touch of bitterness. It's a nice effect.

I look forward to downing many of these come the thick of the spring season. This is good stuff.

Pours a beautifully clear golden orange with a solid 2 finger head that melts slowly and remains sticky.
Aroma is slightly citrusy orange with slightly sweet malts.
Tastes of sweet malts typical for an 'Imperial' of any style but then a sudden infusion of citrus hops...lots and lots of citrus hops. Somewhere in the middle is a piney hop presence.
Normally, I do like like cream ales at all and avoided getting this one because of it, but leave it to Lagunitas to put a twist on a style that changes it completely.
Really nice.

This pours a clear amber orange with a medium tan head. A nice looking beer,but nothing really great. The smell is like an IPA, citrus hops with a "bisquity" undertone. It's not bad,but not like a cream ale. The taste is like a creamy IPA, alot of hops, citrus, grapefruit, with a nice smooth aftertaste. For a high alcohol beer there is almost no presence of it here. The m/f is light ,but there is some metalic aftertaste here. This is an OK beer, I'm not sure if it's a cream ale, but I don't think I'd pick it up again.

12 oz. bottle poured into a pint glass yielded a half-inch off-white head that lingered for a while. Left some lacing on the glass.

Body was slightly hazy, with a bright orange-copper hue. Not a lot of carbonation apparent.

Nose was a bit hoppy, with some citrus and a slight floral twinge.

Mouthfeel was good, with more "fizz" in the mouth than expected from the appearance.

Had definite bitterness in the taste but wasn't overly hoppy, with less overt alcohol than I expected. Goes down easily with nothing disagreeable in the aftertaste.

Overall, a good brew, but nothing truly exceptional. I'd willingly have another - but wouldn't go out of my way to find one. To be fair, it's not a style I seek out, so I don't have a lot to judge against. It's the first Lagunitas offering I've tried, so I can't really compare it to their other efforts, either.